Tuesday, May 27, 2008

5/27 - Firebirds Fight Back

thankfully, i am still able to wake up relatively early here w/out too much trouble (which is never the case back home). this time, the baseball game against the tokyo symphony was being held a bit closer so pauline and i went directly from our friends' house at around 8 a.m.

we arrived soon after the rest of our team and after a brief warm-up, started playing. although we struck first w/ a run in the 1st inning, they held us scoreless for the next 3 innings while racking up a 7-1 lead. it was starting to look bad when all of a sudden, we broke it open w/ a 9 run 5th and 8 run 6th. in the end, your philadelphia orchestra firebirds clawed back for an 18-7 victory.

from there, pauline and i took the train to the kinshicho stop where we had a quick lunch, curry and tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet) and went souvenir shopping at a huge hyaku yen (100 yen or dollar store). this is not like your average dollar store back in the states. there are so many cool and unique things you can find and we ended up getting a ton of great gadgets and gifts for our family and friends back home. then we headed back to our friends' place so i could shower and then go back out for the concert.

although the subway system here is quite extensive, they make it so easy to follow and get around. every day we have been going back and forth all over the city and not once have we gotten lost.

it was great to see some familiar faces out in the audience at suntory hall. several of our donors arrived yesterday to cheer us on. they will be w/ us in korea and china as well. it was nice to chat w/ them backstage during intermission and at the end of the concert. i know they were pretty jet-lagged but they all looked great and i'm glad they could be here.

i was kind of sad to play tonight's concert as it marked the end of our time in japan. tonight, we played the britten again w/ midori and then schubert's "great" symphony. i think it went very well and we ended w/ 2 encores by strauss.

when i got back home, my friends and i ate the okonomiyaki we brought from osaka and some other snacks. there are so many good things to eat here. this is a picture of coolish, the amazing frozen smoothie.

we played another round of nertz before going to bed. i will miss our friends but hope to see them again soon either in the states or when we come back to tokyo.

we're off to korea tomorrow where my parents, sister, other relatives and friends await. it is going to be another food fest! can't wait.....